Tag: Shelton

A Political Rally With Death Threats: Arthur, The Miner’s Strike & Keele, 22 September 1984

Arthur Scargill, Pit Closure Rally, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums

While the Keele Students’ Union bars saga was the largest internal issue that subsisted for the first six months of our sabbatical year 1984/85…

When The Keele Students’ Union Bars (aka Tommy And Ralph) Saga Came To A Head, Early August 1984

…the 1984-85 miners’ strike was far and away the biggest UK political/news story of that time.

The dispute had been running for some six months before this day, in September 1984, when Arthur Scargill held a rally outside the pit in Silverdale, which might be described as “Keele’s local” in the matter of coal pits back then. Indeed I think it was that pit that did for my first Barnes flat, in M block, which needed to be demolished in late 1982:

Switching To A Cracking Good Flat In Barnes, Keele, Mid February To Early March 1982

But I digress.

Here is a transcript of my diary note from the day that Arthur Scargill came to town:

Saturday, 22 September 1984 – Got up early. Went to Shelton – Kathy [North Staffs Poly, President? I think], Cath [Coughlin], Andy [Crawford] and I went to Rumours and on to Scargill [Arthur Scargill rally at a closing colliery]. Shopped in afternoon – visited Kevin [“the Guinness”?], Helen [Ross] etc. Went to Union in evening.

Obviously it was a big rally…a very, very big rally – in contrast with the comparatively small rallies (by his own standards) that Donald Trump holds in the USA these days (2024). Joking apart, there were several hundred of us who attended that 1984 Potteries event.

I discover, though, by delving into The Evening Sentinel archive, that Arthur Scargill 1984 did share something in common with Trump 2024: death threats. Indeed, had I known what I now learn from the Evening Sentinel 40 years later, I might have been a little reluctant to attend:

Scargill Rally 22 September 1984 SentinelScargill Rally 22 September 1984 Sentinel 22 Sep 1984, Sat Evening Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England) Newspapers.com

In truth I don’t remember a great deal about the rally. I wasn’t a political sabbatical, by which I mean that I wanted to focus on running the Union and my portfolio, Education and Welfare, rather than national or international events. But I do remember that sense of history and wanting to be there when the “show” came to our town.

Arthur Scargill was a charismatic speaker and certainly carried his crowd with him. Thatcher-bashing/Tory-bashing was low hanging fruit for speeches in places like the Potteries at that time. I do remember Scargill’s mantra:

There’s no such thing as an uneconomic pit…

…failing to pass my personal economics test at that time. It was clear to me even then that the coal industry was on its way out, for economic and environmental reasons. The issue, for me, was the way that the Tory Government was going about its industrial policy, like a bull in a China shop, for ideological reasons, rather than a measured, planned approach to industrial change, which might have been achieved with more net benefit and less resulting hardship.

But it wasn’t about me, it was about Arthur. Here’s a video of a similar speech to the one we would have heard at the end of our rally:

Mercifully there was no assassination attempt on Arthur Scargill at the event we attended nor, as far as I know, at any other event during those heady days in the mid 1980s.

But just a few year’s later, comedy writer and performer Brian Jordan …

…to whom I shall always be grateful for premiering my comedy material in Edinburgh, in his wonderfully-named show, Whoops Vicar Is that Your Dick…

The Ultimate Love Song, Whoops Vicar, NewsRevue, Ben Murphy…, 29 February 1992

…assassinated Arthur Scargill’s character in the following lyric which ran and ran in NewsRevue in the early 1990s, reproduced here with Brian’s kind permission. I especially like the couplet:

He may not be to everybody’s liking,

But as a union leader…he’s striking.

Anyway, the September 1984 rally was not to be the last of the Students’ Union’s involvement in the miners’ strike, as the issue found its way onto the UGM agenda several times during our year – on at least one occasion with quite incendiary results.

Ashley Fletcher will help me to pick up on that aspect of the story in the coming months, as he has been busy recently (2024) writing up his own memories of the miners’ strike.

Getting Elected To The Naffest Role In The Keele Students’ Union, But Did I Have The Constitution For It In May 1983?

In the spring of 1983, one of the “big hit” comedy books that captivated the young (and young at heart) was The Complete Naff Guide.

Available second hand – click image if you wish

Not long after, there emerged a short publication at Keele named The Keele “Naff” Guide. It is attributed to Adrian Bore and Daphne Canard, but is actually the work of Frank Dillon, with a little help from his friends. I plan to e-publish the “tome” for the May Bank Holiday weekend 2023. Watch this space.

Point is, on the short list of Naff Union Positions gracing the back cover of the Keele “Naff” Guide, Chairperson Of Constitutional Committee does stand out as being quintessentially naff.

How Frank himself, with a little help from his friends, persuaded me to run for that position in the spring of 1983, is one of life’s mysteries that would probably best remain unsolved. But I’m going to try and solve it anyway.

I have mentioned before the shenanigans around several union elections in 1982 and 1983, largely caused by the Tory faction deliberately trying to game flaws and loopholes in the election rules in an attempt to disrupt the smooth running of the union.

In May 1983 my memory would still have been fresh with the (in my case literally sickening) shenanigans that February – click here or below:

A Week When Everything At Keele Made Me Feel Sick, Even Smoke-Filled Rooms & Students Union Politics, 6 to 11 February 1983

Yes, I was on Constitutional Committee (which was also Election Appeals Committee) that year. Yes, I suppose I was seen as one of the good guys. Yes, only one person had put their name forward for the 1983/84 role – Adam Fairholme, who was a Conservative, albeit from a benign corner of that grouping.

I think it was a small posse that ganged up on me and persuaded me to run. I’m pretty sure that Frank Dillon himself was part of that posse. Also Vincent Beasley. I have a feeling that Genaro Castaldo (he who pleaded me away from my sick bed when things went awry in February) and possibly also Viv Robinson (who had been elected to succeed Genaro) leant on me.

I said I didn’t really want to do it. I said I had no time to put together a manifesto and contest the election. I said it was better that they find someone else.

Just do whatever you can. We think you’ll win the election anyway.

I sat in the Main Bar and wrote a few lines in large block capitals on a side of A4 paper. I wish I still had that scribbled-so-called-manifesto to show you. It was so sloppy and shoddy that, I recall, Viv Robinson and I subsequently used it in a guidance note to people who wanted to run for elections in 1983/84 as an example of what NOT to do.

It included my name writ large with a large cross in a box top and bottom. I recall that I pledged to

  • uphold the spirit and the letter of the constitution
  • explain constitutional matters in ways that would help and encourage students to participate in the union
  • seek to revise the constitution to block the loopholes that had recently been exploited to frustrate the union’s purposes.

In fairness to myself, despite the brevity of the pledges and shoddy presentation, I did see through those pledges to the best of my ability during 1983/84.

Having signed my nomination papers and deposited my scrappy piece of hand-written A4 purporting to be a manifesto, I then went back to Shelton for much of the next week, returning to the campus just for classes, a bit of private study and some infeasibly long tennis matches with Alan “The Great Yorkshire Pudding” Gorman. I don’t think I went to the union again until election day.

I’m pretty sure that my diary entry on 6 May which reads, in part “union for a while” reflects the above.

Friday 13 May 1983 – Busyish day – classes etc. – election for const. comm. – won – went to Shelton- had 1st drink (or 2) there.

I think I won the election on a small turnout but a significant percentage. Something like 120 to 80. I recall that Adam Fairholme was bitterly disappointed not to be elected; I think he campaigned quite hard and fancied his chances against an all-but-absentee candidate. Actually Adam was a good bloke and we became friends, albeit not close friends. I’ll write more about him and his demise come the 40th anniversary of that tragedy.

“1st drink (or 2)” relates to the fact that I had been completely off the sauce since February on the back of doctors orders due to my glandular fever (infectious mononucleosis). In May, Dr Scott told me that my “six month ban” could be reduced to “three months” for good behaviour, as I really hadn’t touched a drop.

But did I have the constitution for it?

Saturday 14 May 1983 – Rose quite early – came back to Keele for a while – dress and tennis – went back to Shelton – drag at party – not too pleasant – v late night.

I only very vaguely remember this party but I’m guessing it was some sort of costume party involving drag (they were an arty crowd, Liza’s North Staffs Poly crowd – I suppose that’s what you get when you study art). I don’t think I enjoyed it much, based on my diary entry.

Sunday 15 1983 – decadent day in bed – talking etc. – v pleasant – felt v ill – temp up – both [me and Liza] came back to Keele.

Even at the age of 20, I think its clear that I preferred smaller gatherings of friends/people I knew and liked, to big parties – regardless of costumes or lack thereof.

Even clearer is the fact that I did not yet have the constitution for drinking again. I voluntarily stayed off the sauce for quite a while longer. While my body didn’t tell me that three to four hour tennis matches might be overdoing it, it did tell me that one or two drinks was still one or two too many for my post-virus constitution.

How naff was that?

Criminology, Bells, Bears & Bats: Twixt Barnes At Keele And Rectory Road In Shelton, Early May 1983

The Bell and Bush in Shelton, latterly condemned but, forty years on, reprieved as a bat sanctuary.

Not only was I spending an inordinate amount of time at Keele playing tennis that spring…

Anyone…And In Spring 1983 At Keele That Was Pretty Much Anyone…For Tennis?

…I was also spending an inordinate amount of time too-ing and fro-ing between my Barnes flat at Keele and Liza O’Connor’s new digs in Rectory Road, Shelton, where she had taken up residence with her North Staffordshire Polytechnic (aka North Staffs Poly aka NSP) friends Mike and Mandy.

I Would Like, If I May, To Take You On A Strange Journey…

I’ll translate the first three entries:

Monday 2 May 1983 – Rose quite late – came back [from Shelton] to Keele. Did some work etc.

Tuesday 3 May 1983 – Busy day – worked on criminology essay – shopped – played tennis [with Alan Gorman] for a while [clearly not a “proper” five setter]. Hard work.

Wednesday 4 May 1983 – Rose quite early – had quite a lot to do – did some work – Liza came over – went walk – went to Shelton – did work.

I very much enjoyed, as part of my law degree, the criminology course, taught by Pat Carlen and the late, lamented Mike Collinson. I cannot remember exactly what that essay was about, but I do remember being especially interested in the notion that convicted criminals tend to be severely stigmatised by society, such that they often have few alternatives to recidivism, thus returning to crime. I was particularly taken by Erving Goffman’s book Stigma, and also his book Asylums, which was about institutionalisation, which affects prisoners as well as those incarcerated on mental health grounds. I’ll guess that the essay was about that sort of thing.

I am not, by the way, suggesting that the journey between Shelton & Keele was a strange journey, nor that Liza and I were even faintly Brad and Janet:

Divesting Myself Of J-Soc Responsibilities, but…

Thursday 5 May 1983 – Rose quite early – Bakery -> Keele – classes etc – got ready for J-Soc [Jewish Society] AGM tonight – Melina [Goldberg – an old friend from BBYO who must have been a regional Jewish student bigwig by then] came – Liza also – Meal after – L stayed.

The bakery bit must have been items for the after AGM meal. The positive change I think made in my reluctant year as J-Soc Chair was to make food and interaction with other cultural societies central to our purpose.

I’m not sure what Melina made of our secular, diverse set up at Keele, but I’m fairly sure I didn’t see her again after that evening, so she was possibly less than impressed.

I remember being much relieved to be rid of the J-Soc Chair role, but was soon to be grabbed for a bigger, Students’ Union role. I’ll explain that in the next article, when reporting how the matter was determined.

Bell And Bear And Tootsie

Friday 6 May 1983 – Rose late – went to classes – union for a while -> Shelton. Saw Tootsie [a Dustin Hoffman movie which I think had just been released in the UK] in afternoon – went to Bell and Bear in evening.

(Saturday and Sunday just describes a bit more too-ing and fro-ing twixt Sheton & Barnes)

I don’t remember the Bell and Bear all that well. I asked Simon Jacobs this morning (exactly 40 years after that diary mention, I now realise) if he remembered the place and he did not.

I’m pretty sure it was mostly frequented by North Staffs Poly students, as that area was very much an NSP student part of town.

At that time I was still off the sauce, as part of my recuperation from glandular fever. I’m pretty sure the lemonade and similar drinks in the Bell and Bear were, compared with Keele Students’ Union, similarly priced and similarly awful. I believe the beer was less awful than the SU beer at that time.

Based on this web entry, The Bell & Bear was refurbished in the 1980s which might have been the cause of its popularity with the NSP students – there were lots of grungy pubs to choose from.

But based on this Sentinel entry from April 2023 (very recent at the time of writing) it has been condemned for many years now, spared only by the presence of bats.

Hmmm, bats in 2023…forty years ago I was drinking in there…perhaps a criminologist can explain what’s going on: